Metra faulted by engineer in '03 derailment

January 27, 2006

Metra should have done more to determine if a serious safety issue existed at the site of an October 2003 Rock Island Line derailment rather than simply chalk it up to operator error, the train's engineer said in a Jan. 18 deposition.

Lonell Toussaint, who was fired after the accident but later reinstated in another position, said the agency should have "checked further" to see if there was a more serious safety issue, according to a partial transcript of the deposition.

That accident resulted in injuries to 45 passengers, many of whom have sued the agency.

Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet was surprised by Toussaint's remark, noting that he admitted he was at fault. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the 2003 derailment probably occurred because Toussaint was distracted and failed to see a signal warning him to slow down to switch tracks.

After a fatal Metra derailment in September in the same location, attorneys who have sued Metra have raised safety concerns about the area, where both trains sped through a 10 m.p.h.-crossover. Both engineers have said they thought they were signaled to go straight and proceed at 70 m.p.h., not slow down and switch tracks. NTSB officials, who are investigating the September accident, have said the signals appeared to be working properly in both incidents and the tracks were properly switched.

Since September, Metra has rerouted track. Trains that now switch tracks there may travel up to 30 m.p.h. Those proceeding straight can go no faster than 50 m.p.h., Pardonnet said.

Toussaint also said installing a system in a train's control cab alerting engineers to upcoming signals would help engineers determine when they need to slow down to cross tracks. The NTSB urged Metra in December to install such a system on the northern 14 1/2 miles of the Rock Island Line, which includes the site of the accidents. The warning system is in place from Blue Island to Joliet.